what food crisis?
| By levinson.eric - Jun 3rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm EDT |
i saw the Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping on Sunday. he asked, "where are the Coltranes and Ginsbergs?"
i wonder that myself. today's celebrities are hand-picked based on image and marketability; celebrity creativity is all but extinct as the science of entertainment has replaced the natural creative process. no wonder our britney spearses and michael jacksons crack up under the pressure of being a brand name commodity.
even our food is no longer the center of community as it was throughout human history. our harvest festivals have been hijacked by corporate sponsors pressuring us to go shopping (black friday, christmas, easter, etc) and most americans have no idea what seasonal produce is. everyday, millions of americans eat meal after meal alone and perhaps even in shame of the unhealthy foods they chose to consume. we have been robbed of our connection to the earth and to each other.
in terms of resistance, the Reverend spends his time opposing Wal-Marts and the privatization of public spaces like Union Square and Coney Island (which i wholeheartedly support). i just wish his "gospel" included some mention of the importance of weighing the consequences of what foods we choose to buy. when we buy anything at Wal-Mart (including their "organic" foods, the standards of which they spend millions to undermine), we are supporting the exploitation of labor, the homogenization of our culture, and the system that says it's better to ship things all over the globe to reduce retail prices without accountability rather than produce locally. it is the same idea when we reach for that genetically modified empire red that can be grown all over the world and spend a week on a cargo ship and another 2 on a display without a bruise or a blemish (and without much flavor nor nutrition, but with deforestation among the hidden costs the producers of such garbage externalize on us).
in an age where everything is produced in unfathomable quantities, what little artisan crafts remain are still highly commodified in the fashion and art industries. they are playthings of the global elite, and typically worthless towards survival. so few of us have retained the basic skills of "homemaking," that when the global food crisis does start to really hit us here, we will certainly have an even harder time recovering than "third world" nations that may still have retained some of these skills. only in the past 2 decades has financial pressure from the WTO and IMF coerced many of these "less fortunate" peoples to accept cheap exported foods from the US. by dumping cheap foods on these localized economies, the local producers were run out of town and reliance on the global food system filled the gap. to me, "third world" has become a euphemism for localized independence of the global system. generations of farmers and artisans with skills and heirloom crops developed specifically for life in the places they call home. community cannot be built on homogenized, pasteurized, genetically manipulated hegemonic global economics.
as they talked about the global food crisis this morning on the BBC World News, i kept thinking to myself that a food crisis should never be global. in the past 1/2 century, we have moved from producing and consuming almost all of our food locally to the "global food system" that enables the convenience of fruits and vegetables out of season all year long. it enables new york, a historical apple empire, to import genetically modified, tasteless apples from south america, and dozens of other such ridiculous examples of apple frivolity. it is important to note that i said dozens, when there are hundreds of delicious apple varieties unique to every part of the world (many may already be lost forever). this reduction in genetic variety is another result of the globalization of food, as species have been selected for their resilience during global shipping and shelf life rather than their relevance to the local environment and culture.
are we doomed to suffer the bland uniformity of "empire reds" forever? will you reach for the local, season produce and pay a little extra next time you get groceries, or even better, join a local CSA? or, as the Reverend put it so well, will you succumb to "that damned convenience?"
--
According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States is importing 12-14 million barrels of oil per day. At a current price of about $115 per barrel, that's $1.5 billion per day, or $548 billion per year.
i wonder that myself. today's celebrities are hand-picked based on image and marketability; celebrity creativity is all but extinct as the science of entertainment has replaced the natural creative process. no wonder our britney spearses and michael jacksons crack up under the pressure of being a brand name commodity.
even our food is no longer the center of community as it was throughout human history. our harvest festivals have been hijacked by corporate sponsors pressuring us to go shopping (black friday, christmas, easter, etc) and most americans have no idea what seasonal produce is. everyday, millions of americans eat meal after meal alone and perhaps even in shame of the unhealthy foods they chose to consume. we have been robbed of our connection to the earth and to each other.
in terms of resistance, the Reverend spends his time opposing Wal-Marts and the privatization of public spaces like Union Square and Coney Island (which i wholeheartedly support). i just wish his "gospel" included some mention of the importance of weighing the consequences of what foods we choose to buy. when we buy anything at Wal-Mart (including their "organic" foods, the standards of which they spend millions to undermine), we are supporting the exploitation of labor, the homogenization of our culture, and the system that says it's better to ship things all over the globe to reduce retail prices without accountability rather than produce locally. it is the same idea when we reach for that genetically modified empire red that can be grown all over the world and spend a week on a cargo ship and another 2 on a display without a bruise or a blemish (and without much flavor nor nutrition, but with deforestation among the hidden costs the producers of such garbage externalize on us).
in an age where everything is produced in unfathomable quantities, what little artisan crafts remain are still highly commodified in the fashion and art industries. they are playthings of the global elite, and typically worthless towards survival. so few of us have retained the basic skills of "homemaking," that when the global food crisis does start to really hit us here, we will certainly have an even harder time recovering than "third world" nations that may still have retained some of these skills. only in the past 2 decades has financial pressure from the WTO and IMF coerced many of these "less fortunate" peoples to accept cheap exported foods from the US. by dumping cheap foods on these localized economies, the local producers were run out of town and reliance on the global food system filled the gap. to me, "third world" has become a euphemism for localized independence of the global system. generations of farmers and artisans with skills and heirloom crops developed specifically for life in the places they call home. community cannot be built on homogenized, pasteurized, genetically manipulated hegemonic global economics.
as they talked about the global food crisis this morning on the BBC World News, i kept thinking to myself that a food crisis should never be global. in the past 1/2 century, we have moved from producing and consuming almost all of our food locally to the "global food system" that enables the convenience of fruits and vegetables out of season all year long. it enables new york, a historical apple empire, to import genetically modified, tasteless apples from south america, and dozens of other such ridiculous examples of apple frivolity. it is important to note that i said dozens, when there are hundreds of delicious apple varieties unique to every part of the world (many may already be lost forever). this reduction in genetic variety is another result of the globalization of food, as species have been selected for their resilience during global shipping and shelf life rather than their relevance to the local environment and culture.
are we doomed to suffer the bland uniformity of "empire reds" forever? will you reach for the local, season produce and pay a little extra next time you get groceries, or even better, join a local CSA? or, as the Reverend put it so well, will you succumb to "that damned convenience?"
--
According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States is importing 12-14 million barrels of oil per day. At a current price of about $115 per barrel, that's $1.5 billion per day, or $548 billion per year.
!
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